Oblivion Rising
by Shadowed-Shikyo
Summary: A chance encounter in the night leads to a partnership and nothing is what it seems. Demons lurk around every corner and another danger is closer than they think. DantexOC
1. Fateful Encounter

**Well, welcome to my first attempt at a Devil May Cry story. I've been a big fan of Devil May Cry since I played the first game (it scared the hell out of me). So let's see how I do.**

**Devil May Cry belongs to Capcom.**

**-x-**

_**Chapter One:**_

_**Fateful Encounter**_

_**-x-**_

_The night was silent, not a cricket was chirping, but the stars and full moon were unnaturally bright. A woman walked silently along a cobbled path through a garden, her bare feet welcoming the cool of the stones. It had been a long time since she walked outside without shoes on. Her dress billowed behind her, she almost felt like a bride again, walking down the aisle that would enslave her to a man. Years of practiced obedience and selective learning did not hide the truth for long, she saw it soon enough. Still, she persevered and played her role in The Society. It was, after all, her only protection and the only life she knew._

_But that protection was coming to an end, in three days' time she would die. _"The time has come."_ He had told her and she accepted it, overjoyed that she was given a great honor. And it _was_ a great honor, the greatest honor anyone could have been given in The Society._

_She drew her head back to stare at the deep sky; she looked past the stars into the inky black. "Oblivion…" She whispered, "…Lethe." Her eyes slowly closed, "Oblivion." She whispered again, letting the word roll slowly off her tongue. "Lethe…"_

_In the distance, she heard a door slam. They knew she was missing, it would be with great reluctance that they could accept her being outside to look at the stars but they wouldn't. The time was now… A choice was to be made or else it would be made for her: a path of honor or a path of cowardice._

_She chose oblivion._

-x-

By the time her class ended, Lethe Evans was in a partially annoyed mood. She wasn't able to leave work early as she wanted in order to get to class on time; instead, she was forced to play nice with an irate old woman who was determined to make her life miserable and demanded that she cater to the customer's every whim. Because of that, she had to take a taxi instead of the bus and hoof it to her class but she still ended up being nearly half an hour late; her professor wasn't pleased with her. After several apologies and another warning she took her seat at the back of the class and didn't speak to anyone, not that she had anyone to speak to anyway.

Since she took a cab, her remaining bus money was now marginally smaller forcing her to take the bus halfway and then walk a ten mile trek to her apartment. If she could call that closet a room but reality reminded her that she should be grateful to have found such a place, and for cheap too, since she had left _that place_, all funds that she had were cut off. She was thankful for many things since leaving; she was thankful she managed to find a job and a place to live and even to have been able to enroll in the local community college. She didn't know what she wanted to do with her life, all she knew was that she wanted to find a better job, save up some money, and get the hell out the city.

Lethe didn't know where to go just yet, perhaps the beach… She had never been to the beach and she'd always wanted to go. But that would take a lot of money as the city was nowhere near an ocean. She'd been to the lake before as a little girl but she was never allowed to go in the water, all she could do was stare at the glistening waves and envy all the other kids who got to play in the water. She didn't know why she was jealous, she couldn't even swim.

Lethe was brought out of her thoughts when the wind picked up, blowing her long, wavy chestnut hair around. It was then that she noticed that the air felt colder and constricting. A shiver went down her back and her hair stood on end; Lethe pulled her jacket around her tighter in an attempt to stay warm. Her entire being was on alert and because she quickly learned the danger signs since moving here, she knew something was amiss. An unknown danger lurked around the corner, behind her, or in an alleyway.

_A mugger?_ She thought and dug her hand into her pocket, her fingers wrapping around her can of pepper spray. After a month on the streets, the first thing she bought with her paycheck was the little can, she thought it was well worth it. Her cheap apartment came with a price: it was located right in the middle of the bad part of town. All of the prostitutes, drug users, and the occasional gang would flock here. Which was why she was thankful the bus still went into scum-central and why she rode it. Inside her head, she cursed that little old lady.

And the she heard it, "ahahahaha!" Her entire body froze, "ahahahaha!" A high-pitched laugh that made her entire body shiver with fright, there wasn't any way that laugh was _human_. "Ahahahaha!" She heard it again and the adrenaline kicked in, she bolted, running down the sidewalk, her bag thumping painfully against her butt.

Blood pounded in her ears as she strained to hear if the inhuman laugh was following her; in her haste she tripped and fell onto the cold cement, smacking her nose. For a moment she was dazed until her senses came back and she remembered what she was running from. Lethe shot up and scrambled to her feet, trying to catch and still her breath while peering around to make sure nothing was following her. She saw nothing, the world was still. _Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me,_ she thought hopefully. It was nighttime and she was walking in the bad part of town, her mind was just going into to hyper drive and she was just imagining some sort of inhuman laugh to scare her and—"ahahahaha!" The laugh sounded again _right. Next. To. Her._

Lethe let out a bloodcurdling scream and ran again away from the laugh but away from the laugh meant down a darkened alley which was also a dead end as she quickly realized when she ran into a brick wall. _Oh God, I'm going to die. _She whimpered as she heard the laugh again coming closer and the she saw _it_. It was massive and wore what looked like a ragged black robe and a sinister face but what made Lethe scream again was the massive pair of lethal scissors it had clutched in its hands. Lethe pressed into the wall, hoping to make herself smaller but the thing was coming right at her. "Help…" She whimpered pathetically and scrunched her eyes closed.

"_A lady must always be proper and demure, keep your head up but not too high as you would scare away a future husband."_

Oh great, she was going into shock and hearing her dead mother's voice in her head.

"_A lady must always rely on a man to protect her. Your father does this now and someday your husband will do this and if your husband passes before you, your son will protect you."_

BANG! Lethe's eyes flew open to see the thing jerk and let out a shriek. The thing turned around and Lethe was just able to see a figure standing at the alley entrance for a brief second before the thing charged at her unknown savior.

"Y'know…" Lethe heard him drawl, "if you wanted a party, you should've gone looking for _me_." There was another gunshot and then another and then another until the thing gave one last shriek and then she heard a shell hitting the floor and it was gone.

Lethe let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, whatever that _thing_ was was gone now. Relief flooded through her but her legs finally gave out and she tumbled ungracefully to the ground. Footsteps hurried towards her, "hey babe, you okay?" She looked up to see her savior and her jaw dropped.

In the dim light she could make out his striking features: dark pants and a long, red coat. He wasn't wearing a shirt except for a gun strap on his chest, giving Lethe a good look at his chiseled abs; his face was handsome as well with a strong jaw and straight nose and full, kissable lips that were smirking at her but his most prominent feature was his shaggy, silvery-white hair that hung in his eyes. This man was drop dead gorgeous.

With the shock from the encounter with the thing and the sudden appearance of the handsome man, words were tumbling in her head; unable to create a coherent sentence, she was thankful that all words were dying on her tongue. The man frowned and crouched to her level and gently grasped her chin between his thumb and forefinger, "babe…?" His clear blue eyes met her hazel ones, "you're in shock." He said, "Breathe okay? I don't need you passing out on me." His frown turned into a smirk, "but if you pass out because of _me_, I'll take it as a compliment."

Lethe stared for a second longer, "what… was that thing?" She managed to gasp out.

The man glanced behind him before turning back to look at her, his fingers left her chin; "A Sin Scissor, nasty little demon and their laughs are annoying as hell." A demon? Her brain tried to process the new information but combining that with being scared out of her wits, her breathing got heaver, her lip trembled, and she burst into tears. The man drew back, startled, "whoa babe! No need to cry!"

"I thought I was going to die!" She sobbed and did the only sensible thing her brain told her to do: she reached forward, grabbed the man's coat, pulling him forward, buried her head in his chest and cried.

The man lifted his hand and patted her head awkwardly, "hey, let go of the merchandise, it's expensive. Unless you wanna get a feel, go right ahead but I get to feel you too…"

That snapped Lethe right out of it, "w-what?" She stuttered, her face turning red as a tomato.

He smirked, "got you to stop crying." He did, she realized, she was blushing too much to even cry. "What's your name, babe?"

"L-Lethe…" She spoke softly and shakily stood up, using the brick wall behind her for support, the man slowly standing up with her until he was standing at his full height which had to be at least a foot taller than her.

"Lethe, huh?" He smirked again as his eyes traveled down her body and back up, "I'm Dante."

Lethe turned a brighter shade of red, "thank you, y'know, for killing that thing and saving me."

Dante grinned, "It's what I do and getting to rescue hot babes like you is just one of the perks."

She was pretty sure her face was inventing a new shade of red right about now; she wasn't used to be shown so much attention from the opposite gender, the men back _there_ were always polite and smiled sinisterly at her with their eyes but they had never been so forward like this Dante. She shifted on her feet awkwardly as she had nothing left to say unless she wanted to say 'thank you' again and Dante seemed rather to content to check out her body again. Nervously, she cleared her throat and his blue eyes shot up to meet hers, "yes, well, thank you again." Lethe attempted to sidle past him but his hand shot out and gently wrapped around her arm.

"Where're you going?"

She looked at him tentatively, "home?" she asked hopefully.

Dante grinned playfully, "what, no reward?" He teased.

Cue the blush, "do you want a reward? I have some money…" She stammered; if she could count some money being a handful of pennies in her bag.

Dante tapped his chin, pretending to think, "how 'bout… a kiss, hmm?"

Lethe drew back, startled, "I beg your pardon?" She squeaked loudly.

He laughed loudly, "you've got to chill babe, or else people will start taking advantage of you." For once, he wasn't making fun of her but regarding her a bit seriously but obviously amused by her. "Tell ya what, we'll hold off on that kiss for now..." He pulled a silver gun out from behind his back—Lethe flinched at the sight of it—aimed at the opening of the alley and shot. Another inhuman scream sounded and Lethe let out a scream at the sight of another Sin Scissor. "Get behind me!" Dante ordered her.

She did more than that; she took shelter behind his back and peeked around him, looking for an escape. Her heart was thumping and the fight or flight instinct was kicking in and her instinct was flight. She saw an opening, the Sin Scissor veered to the left to avoid a bullet from Dante; she darted out from behind him and bolted. "Hey wait!" She heard Dante shout from behind her but she kept going, the Sin Scissor tried to take a swipe at her as she ran past but a well-aimed shot from Dante kept it from harming her. "Shit!" Was the last thing she heard Dante say before she was turning the corner and running off into the dark.

-x-

She didn't stop running until she reached her apartment complex and even then she raced up the stairs to the third floor. She was able to take a breather when she unlocked her door, stumbled inside, and lock the door behind her. Only then did she really and finally stop. Sure, she felt bad for leaving Dante behind like that but she was scared and all she wanted was to just be safe in her bed again. Besides, he looked like he could handle himself with those two big guns and that sword and those nice, well-defined abs… _Lethe Evans, no! Bad!_ Her face flushed at the thought of him, he was a man who left a lasting impression; his personality demanded attention and even his looks stood out, how many men had snowy-white hair? _Forget him Lethe,_ she chided herself, _chances are you'll never see him again._

Part of her hoped it was true as she shed her outer clothes off and put on her pajamas but as she settled into the comforting cocoon of her blankets and bed her other half was hoping that she would see him again.

-x-

The next day came too quickly and Lethe was quickly roused out of bed by the morning sun shining on her face through her window. She fumbled for her cell—one of her necessities she deemed, even if she had no one to call—and checked the time: _8:41_. She had to be to work in less than an hour and the bus was coming in less than that. The brunette fumbled to get out of the tangle of blankets and managed to plant her feet firmly on the floor before pushing off and making her way to her small sink.

The Ravine Apartments were not really true 'apartments'. They were small rooms equipped with a bed, sink, and closet. But they were really cheap, only a hundred and twenty a month. If she kept working between thirty-five and forty hours a week she could stay on top of it and pay for tuition. She gathered her bath stuff, key, bathrobe, and towel and headed out the door, making sure her door locked behind her. Each floor had community bathroom. Two bathrooms and two different shower rooms, one for each gender. At least their landlord was generous enough to allow them gender separated bathrooms, before she came here it was used by both genders until the complaints from the women became too much.

After a quick shower, she walked back to her room wrapped in her bathrobe and her hair wrapped in a towel. She had her key in the lock when a tentative voice called, "Lethe?" She whirled around to see Carl, her across-the-hall neighbor. He had moved in two months ago and he was quiet and kept to himself a lot, never leaving his room often.

"Hi Carl," Lethe greeted politely, she didn't know why since Carl was so nice but there was something about the man that put her slightly on edge. He was a bit taller than her with a mess of brown hair and kind blue eyes, though his eyes were not as blue or pretty as Dante's—_Quit thinking about him!—_she always had the impression that he was always watching her, either out of the corner of his eye or blatantly when she had her back turned.

"I heard you run in your room last night, breathing hard; you okay?" How did he know she was breathing hard? She was just winded from running; did he leave his room and stand outside her door?

She forced a smile, "I'm fine Carl. I just had to get off the bus early and I ran home, I didn't like being out at that time of night."

He was silent for a moment and she couldn't help think that he was wondering if her excuse was true but he smiled, "Okay, I see. Take care, okay? The streets are no place to being hanging out at night. Wouldn't want something bad to happen now, would we?" With that, he slipped back into his room and Lethe couldn't help but think that he just gave her a warning.

-x-

Usually Dante never patrolled the city, he always waited until someone called him with the password or Lady brought him a case. Patrolling wasn't worth it and it cramped his style. But last night, he had been investigating some rumors of demon appearances in the area that Lady told him about when he heard a feminine scream. Pulling Ebony and Ivory out of their holsters he ran towards the scream and heard it again. Skidding to a stop in front of an alleyway he saw a Sin Scissor bearing down on a cowering woman at the end of an alley.

Ebony and Ivory made short work of the demon and once it was dead he headed to check on the girl. He wasn't surprised to find her collapsed on the ground and slow to respond to him, it obviously was her first time seeing a demon. But he didn't expect her to grab him and begin crying. After a moment, he cracked a joke that made her stop crying and flush a dark red. Even in the dim lighting, he could tell she was a classical beauty with long, dark hair and a heart shaped face and when she finally stood up he could make out her body features. She was shorter than him and was a bit curvy, he could make out a sizeable chest and his eyes traveled down to her hips, they were also nice and led to nice, shapely legs.

Dante could instantly tell why a Sin Scissor attacked her; he could smell the innocence that radiated from her and sure enough, every time he drew attention to her looks she would blush. Sins were attracted to the innocent and he wasn't surprised when a second Sin Scissor came sniffing around. Unfortunately, the girl made a run for it the moment she could and he shot the Sin Scissor again to keep it from taking a nice chunk out of her; he called to her telling her to stop but last he saw of her was her bag whipping around the corner. Once the demon was dead, he stepped out of the alley sniffing but was disappointed to find that her innocent smell was overpowered by the stench of the city.

He was supposed to go back to the shop but he found himself prowling around the area the next day searching for any sign of a dead girl in case she ran into another demon after she ran off but he was relieved that he didn't but he still stuck around looking for any sign of her.

_Lethe…_ That was her name. It was nice name and it rolled off the tongue easily. He wanted to see her one more time, to make sure she was okay before heading back to Devil May Cry. But he spent all day looking around for her but he couldn't find her. Maybe she didn't live here… Dante frowned, why would such a girl be hanging around such a rough neighborhood? Speaking of girl… was that her?

A short, chestnut-haired girl was walking down the sidewalk, a bag of groceries in one hand. Even though he couldn't make out her frontal features, the familiar scent of innocence wafted into his nostrils. It was her. Dante left the shadowy doorway where he was lounging and followed her from a distance but he was able to zero in on her butt; small and tight. His inner demon purred in delight and he couldn't help but agree with it, with her fine looks and the overwhelming smell of innocence, she was a feast to any devil.

-x-

Lethe strolled along the sidewalk at a steady pace; she was finally done with work and took the opportunity to buy more fruit before heading for the bus stop which was a little ways from the store where she worked. Today went smoothly and last night was just a distant, bad memory. She hummed a little tune under her breath as she continued forward but a strange feeling washed over her; she pivoted on her foot and abruptly turned around, peering at the street behind her. Empty. "That's strange…" She murmured to herself, "I could have sworn somebody was there…" Watching her.

She turned back around and walked forward several more steps before turning around again; still nothing. "I _know_ someone's there and let me tell you, _it's not funny_!" She said angrily, her free hand curling around the pepper spray in her pocket. There was nothing there except for the gentle breeze. Lethe huffed but continued on anyway. _Way to antagonize the wind, Lethe._ But she could've sworn someone was there. _Or something… Bad overactive imagination!_ Still, she couldn't help but wonder if the thing—Sin Scissor—if there were more of them out there.

Once again, she stopped but for a completely different reason: the air was getting colder and restrictive again. _Not again;_ her chest constricted in fear, was she going to get attacked? _Please no,_ she internally whimpered. A cold wind swept up her back and she ducked, sprawling onto the ground. She looked up and once again, froze. A monstrous creature, almost like the Sin Scissor from last night, was floating above her. Except this thing had horns and was carrying two deadly looking scythes in its hands and there were _three_ of them. "Leave me alone!" She screamed half angry, half desperate.

"Hey, it's extremely _rude _to throw a party with a smokin' hot babe and not invite _me_."

Lethe almost wept with relief when she heard that voice; _Dante._ She peeked over at the way she came and saw him standing there with a sword in his hand. Dante pointed it at the demons towering over her, "the real party," he said with a smirk, "starts _now_."

What happened next was pandemonium, the three demons charged Dante who skillfully engaged them with his sword, Lethe scrambled away to get to safety but this time she hovered nearby, taking shelter by a dumpster. And from her safe spot she watched him fight. It was breathtaking to say in the least, despite the sword being bulky looking; Dante wielded it like it was an extension of his arm, he parried the scythes and attacked ferociously. She was sure within a minute he had killed one of the things. And within another minute, the second one was dead and the third followed shortly after. Once he was done, he returned the sword to his back and surveyed his handiwork; Lethe stood up from her hiding place, "amazing…" she breathed.

Dante looked up and saw her, "you didn't run away this time."

She bit her lip when she remembered that she had left him behind last night. "I'm sorry." She said and bowed her head in apology, "thank you, that's the second time you've saved me." Lethe glanced at the three corpses and was surprised to see them vanish into thin air, "what were they?" She glanced questioningly.

Surprisingly, Dante was staring at her intently. "Death Scythes;" He stated and took a step towards her.

"Dante?" Lethe asked; what was he doing? He reached her, continuing to stare until he leant down to her hair and breathed in deeply. "Hey!" She jerked back, "Were you smelling me?" She accused, "perv!"

"Just confirming something." Dante replied, he gestured to where the Death Scythes corpses used to be, "Death Scythes don't attack on a whim, though I understand why. But being attacked by Sins two days in a row, it's not a coincidence." He regarded her seriously, "I think you're in danger."

That was something she was not expecting, it came so much as a surprise that she dropped her bag of fruit, an orange rolling by her foot. "What do you mean?"

"Sins go after the innocent; that I know. Even though your scent is strong, it should only attract a few demons every once in a while." He explained.

Lethe cocked her head to the side, "scent? I smell?"

Dante smirked and then laughed, "Your innocence. It gives off a smell. A rather attractive smell, I might add."

"My… innocence?" It took her a moment before it clicked and her face turned red as a tomato. "I mean, what? My… that means you... you perv!" She jabbed a finger into his chest before kneeling down to retrieve her fallen fruit and hide her red face. "Ugh!"

Dante just laughed. "No worries babe." Lethe stood back up her fruit in her arms, "I have a proposition for you."

"I'm listening."

"I'd like to hire out my services to you."

Her mouth fell open, her face went red (again), and the fruit went tumbling onto the ground for a second time. "Your… services?" She said, mortified. He wasn't suggesting… was he? "Are you some kind of prostitute?" Lethe asked angrily.

This time, it was Dante's turn to be surprised but only for a second before laughing again. "You've got some bite to ya. Much better than last night, I'd say. But no," he pulled out a small white business card and handed it to Lethe. She took it and read the words: _Devil May Cry_. "I hunt devils and I'd like to hire out my services as a bodyguard to you, at least until I figure out why you're suddenly a demon magnet."

She was quiet, staring at the card and contemplating, "I don't have much money." She admitted.

"No problem, I'll take whatever you can give me."

She looked up, her hazel eyes meeting his blue ones, "alright Dante." A small smile appeared on her face, "I'll hire you as a bodyguard until we can figure out what is going on." She held out a hand, "agreed?"

Dante shook it, surprised at her firm grip, "agreed."

-x-

**Constructive criticism and reviews are much appreciated! Flames are not. Please review! It makes me happy.**


	2. Close Encounters

**Welcome to the second chapter of Oblivion Rising! It's a bit short but I'm proud of this one. I think Dante's personality gets to shine.**

**DMC (and unfortunately, Dante) belongs to Capcom.**

**Lethe belongs to me, though.**

**Enjoy!**

**-x-**

**Chapter Two:**

**Close Encounters**

-x-

By the third day of Dante being her bodyguard Lethe was almost ready to renege on their deal. He followed her _everywhere._ He was waiting for her outside her apartment complex, outside her work, even outside her classroom.

"_Ooh, who's that?" One of Lethe's classmates asked as she walked out of their class; she stared at him, hungrily licking her lips._

_Lethe didn't answer as Dante walked over to her and casually slung his arm over her shoulder and smirked at the awestruck women as he led her away. "Would you not do that?" She hissed at him, her face pink. She could feel their jealous and accusing stares attacking her back._

"_What's the matter?" He teased, giving her shoulder a little squeeze._

Not only that, but he practically demanded her attention. Yes, his long red coat was flashy and the first thing people spotted but whenever she was looking at something else he would direct her attention right back to him usually through a light touch on her body or a breath on her neck. And when she was working he would strut into the store like he owned it, catching Lethe's eye, giving her a roguish wink (at that point she would flush and pointedly ignore him). He would buy things multiple times a day, mainly microwavable pizzas, and after some smooth-talking with her manager (who was also female) he was allowed to use the employee break room and the microwave that was in said room.

He was driving her nuts.

_If you ignore him long enough, he'll give up and go away._ That had been her mantra but the thing about Dante: _he never gave up_. If she turned her head the other way, he managed to get into her line of sight and smirk at her as if he knew that what he was doing was irritating her.

Finally, work ended; Lethe clocked out and put on her coat and grabbed her bag. Outside, she found Dante lounging against the wall; his weapons miraculously back in their rightful places (they disappear every time he came into the store). The black and silver guns were called Ebony and Ivory and the sword with the skull motif was named Rebellion; she had inquired about them the other day and he made 'introductions', he even let her hold Ivory for a moment. The heavy gun was foreign to her and reminded her of death and she quickly gave it back.

"Ready babe?" Dante asked cheerfully before putting his arm around her shoulder. Apparently it had become his favorite way of walking with her.

"I have a name, you know." Lethe said irritably, "and why do you keep bothering me while I work? Hell, why do you keep popping up everywhere?"

"I'm your bodyguard; it's my _job,_ Lethe."

"I know; it's just that… Can't you do it from a distance?" Lethe asked, trying very hard not to sound whiny.

"Why; is my sex appeal too much for you? You need me to be farther away so you don't feel yourself growing _hot_ from my sheer manliness?" Dante laughed, squeezing her shoulder and pulling her closer into him.

"I-I think we don't know each other well enough for that kind of talk." She stammered as she involuntarily smelled him. He smelled of gunpowder and some sort musky-like scent. It was very appealing.

"Oh, I know of a _way_ we can get to know each other _better_." He purred dangerously.

"Okay!" Lethe pulled out from his embrace, "awkward."

Once again, Dante laughed that sexy—_Bad! No!_—laugh of his, "you're lightening up. _I like it_."

Lethe groaned, "Can we at least keep it civil?" Even though she complained, she enjoyed Dante's company. Dare she say it? He was, what she considered, her first friend. Even if he was a little brazen and completely forward with her and they've only known each other for three days. He was still the first friend she ever made.

The bus ride home was uneventful, she took the window seat and Dante sat next to her, his arm snaking around her. _Maybe's he just an affectionate person_, she thought with a sigh and slapped his hand that wandering too far south away; _very affectionate._

-x-

They arrived at her apartment and against all judgment; she finally let him follow her to her room. "I've had a hunch you've been sleeping outside or something…" She admitted as they trekked up the stairs.

"Nah, I've been going back to my place to crash for a few hours."

"Really?" Lethe twisted around to look at him, "where do you live?"

"In the city, at my shop; it's kind of far from here but I can make the hike here and back in about fifteen minutes."

"Oh." She didn't say anything after that; so he wasn't completely stalking her. But she could tell by his voice that he didn't like having to go back and leave her alone. "Umm… if you want, you can—"she inwardly flinched because once she said it; she knew what was going to happen—"stay over tonight so you don't have to go back to your place."

The moment those words left her mouth, she could practically see the smirk forming on his face, she didn't even have to turn around. "Stay over? Can't get enough of me, babe?"

"I can make you a nest." Lethe said shortly, "My bed's not big enough for two people." _Oh yeah, Lethe, let's give him _another_ bone._ She mentally slapped herself.

"There's _always_ room on the floor for two people."

"For sleeping!" Lethe interrupted. "Separate sleeping; if you need the rest, I can give you a pillow and some blankets and you can sleep on the floor!"

"Alone?"

"Yes, alone. I will be sleeping on my bed."

"What about dinner? It's only five-thirty."

"I have some veggies and fruit in my fridge. Oh! And some salad stuff and I can scrounge up this delicious vinaigrette dressing!"

She smiled at the thought but Dante voiced his opinion, "health food? No junk food? No pizza?"

Lethe shook her head, "Nope. With my discount at the store, I find fruit and veggies to be better to buy and I like them."

"B-but… that's health food!" She got the impression that Dante didn't eat healthy often; she, however, went her entire life eating healthy or fine foods. She could count on one hand how many times she ate unhealthy junk food.

"It's good for you." She said simply.

"How 'bout we order pizza?" Dante suggested.

"Why?"

"Because pizza is the best thing in the entire world." He stated it like a fact.

"Is it? I've never had it." Lethe said mildly as she turned a corner only to hear a 'thump'. "Dante?" She turned around to see that Dante hadn't turned the corner and instead walked into the wall and was staring at her with a look of horror. "Dante?" Was she in trouble, was there a demon following them?

"You've… never had pizza?" For once, Dante lost his suave attitude was just _staring_ at her with a look of complete and utter horror. He took a few steps towards her before his arms shot out. She didn't have time to react before she was pressed against his chest, her nose bumping against his gun strap; another blush spread through her cheeks. Despite all the muscles, he was surprisingly _soft_. _He would make a good pillow…_ She chided herself for thinking such thoughts; he was a friend and just because he was a man did not make him _more_ than a friend. Lethe stiffened when she felt him patting her head and then stroking her hair. "You poor, poor, deprived girl…" Dante was moaning, "You haven't truly lived yet!"

"Dante, it's just pizza!" She backed out of his grip.

"Just pizza? _Just pizza?_" Lethe took that as a sign to keep moving and she did, Dante following. "Pizza is the single, most, greatest thing on the entire planet and you say "it's just pizza"?"

"Well, I've never had it so it doesn't matter to me."

"_Doesn't matter?"_ Lethe groaned as he went into a tirade about how 'amazing' pizza was; from its tomato sauce to the cheese to the toppings (except for those "disgusting olives").

"Okay!" Lethe gave up, "I'll take your word for it! Can we just, please, stop talking about pizza?" They had arrived at her door and she was unlocking it, "You can order…" She stopped talking as she opened the door and her eyes widened.

Oh. FUCK.

She left her laundry out this morning to dry.

Oh FUCK didn't even begin to cover it.

Each floor had a washing machine and a drier. Each machine took one dollar to operate and she always saved money by letting her clothes air-dry in her room. Unfortunately this meant…

"Well," Dante spoke from behind her, "isn't this _interesting_?" She knew where he was looking, right across from them, draping across her lamp, were her panties. And they weren't good-girl cotton panties; it was her collection of racy underwear. Her horrified eyes fell on the most visible one: a pair of red panties completely made out of lace. She didn't even want to follow the trail behind it; instead, she whipped around to see Dante's eyes trailing up her lamp.

She put her hands on his chest and shoved, it was a little hard considering he was muscular but since he was enraptured by her lamp, he stumbled back. "Out!" She screeched. Dante smirked and laughed and she swiftly closed the door. With a red face, she bolted to her lamp and began to pull her panties off and shove them into her closest and then did the same thing with her bras (which had been hanging on a hook on the back of her door). God, she was so embarrassed! Here she was, trying to be nice and establish the friendship line with Dante when she opens the door for him to see her panty collection. Lethe groaned, _and I invited him to stay the night._

-x-

Dante stood outside Lethe's door, chuckling to himself. That was certainly a pleasant surprise. He just knew there was a spitfire in her somewhere, if anything, that beautiful sight in her room proved it. He could already imagine her in some of those panties and he felt himself harden a bit. _Not now,_ he stopped himself. Now was not the time. He barely knew her and he wanted her upmost trust before they got _there_.

"Lethe?" Dante turned around to see a short man with brown hair come out of a doorway across from Lethe's room. The man frowned at Dante, "who're you? Why was Lethe screaming?" He asked suspiciously.

Dante put his guard up at the tone of voice the man was using, "who're _you?_"

The man frowned, "Carl. Lethe's neighbor." His eyes lingered on the hilt of Rebellion before moving to Dante's hair. "Lethe!" He called.

The door opened and Lethe stepped out, her face quite red. "Yes?" She asked.

"Who is this?" Carl demanded.

Dante frowned and shifted in front of Lethe, shielding her from view. "He's a friend, Carl." Lethe spoke, peeking her head around him, "Why do you care?"

Carl got a nasty look on his face, "he's not trustworthy! He's a filthy half-breed!"

In an instant, Ebony was pointing at him. "And how do you know that, hmm?"

Lethe gasped, "Dante! What are you doing?"

The look on Carl's face turned murderous, "Son of Sparda!" He snarled before his face changed into something grotesque. It looked like his skin melted off his body and instead of a skeleton there was what looked like mottled black and blue skin and grew at least three feet bigger. His face was black with monstrous, dog-like jaws and two elongated fangs. 'Carl' launched at Dante who shot him in the face but it didn't stop the demon dog who was trying to claw his face off. Dante fired another shot, returned Ebony to her holster, shoved Lethe off to the side, and drew Rebellion.

-x-

Lethe fell back against her door when she saw Carl change. Her mouth was open in a silent scream as she did her best to scramble away from Dante and Carl after Dante pushed her away. Carl was a demon? He had been living across from her for two months! Dante had put away his gun and was fighting against Carl with Rebellion. She had to admit Carl was keeping up with Dante's movements and using his massive claws to fend off the sword but then again, the hallway was too small for Dante to move properly.

Instead, Dante managed to skillfully maneuverer himself between her and the demon. Using Rebellion, he blocked each swipe of Carl's claws.

In a sharp lunge, Carl managed to knock Dante aside. He went into the Carl's door where it crunched, the wood splintered and it didn't take long for Lethe to realize that he was stuck and that Carl turned his murderous, red eyes towards her.

She scrambled back as Carl advanced on her. "Dante!" She squeaked in fear.

A claw enclosed around her ankle, pulling her forward, Carl's face came closer to her own and in a low, growly voice he spoke, _"The time is now! Your part must be played; _They are coming for you_!"_

"Let go!" She squealed and used her free foot to kick Carl's face. He merely snarled and raised a fist, preparing to strike her. Before he could hit her, Rebellion poked through Carl's chest, dripping black blood onto Lethe's shirt. Carl gave a howl of pain before Rebellion was gone and then went through his head. Carl's eyes rolled into the back of his head before he became limp and fell on Lethe, who then whimpered at being trapped underneath the monstrous demon.

"Lethe!" Dante was there, pulling her out from under the dead demon.

"All this time…" Lethe hiccupped, still staring at Carl, "he was a demon and he was living across from me! I even thought he had a _crush_ on me!"

Dante's hand was rubbing her shoulder comfortingly, "it's okay. He's dead."

""They are coming for me." That's what he said." Lethe looked at Dante questioningly, "what do you think he meant by that?"

Dante's hand tightened. "It means," He said quietly, "that this place is no longer safe." He jerked her up to her feet; "go pack."

"What?" Lethe gaped at him, "where're we going?"

"My place;" he said as he gently pushed her into her room, "and we're not coming back for a while so pack heavy." With that, he closed the door.

But Lethe went red when she heard him through the door, "and don't forget those lacy, red panties!"

**-x-**

**And that concludes Chapter Two!**

**Reviews and constructive criticism is much appreciated. And they make me a happy author who can type out chapters more quickly.**

**See ya in chapter three!**


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